What I Am Reading - Ham on Rye

Ham On Rye

Charles Bukowski

Read it in small paperback, 288 easily read pages.

Our August OLT selection by BoozyCoug, short and sweet, with an added bonus that I have never read a book by Mr. Bukowski, ever. Short and sweet, with silly short chapters and an easy read feel throughout.  Let's dive in.

This is the story of Henry Chinaski.  We get to see Henry grow up through the great depression with all of its troubles and tribulations.  The book starts with Henry in his younger years, visiting family, experiences with his father and mother, to his first years at school.  From there we follow Henry through his adolescence, his change from a small boy to middle school, his hard times dealing with an unusual puberty, the problems of other boys and girls at that age, and being in locations you don't feel you belong.  Onward still with his adventures in higher education before the book terminates at the onset of World War 2.

It's short and easy to read, but there is sensitive and graphic accounts here of women and other things people encounter in adolescence.

-Potential Spoilers Below-

For OLT book club, it faired alright.  We had eight esteemed fellows finish with an average score of 5.5 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being scrap for wiping defecation and a 10 as a world changing text.  Independent scores below:

BoozyCoug: 7

Hylen: 4

SS: 5

TechManDave: 6

Dust: 6

Th3ee: 6

G$$: 3

Shelly-The-Don: 7

Overall not bad of a score really.  If G$$ money had enjoyed it a little more it might be one of the higher rated books this year.  Looking at what everyone put down for their favorite moments, there isn't much consistency, which makes sense since a lot of really interesting things happen to Henry throughout the course of the book.  Some of my notes for favorite/lasting moment include:

"One armed kid fight scene."  Cometh the destroyer.

"Kid masturbating in class" which was another's favorite described as "When the kid is thump-thumping in class and everyone just tries to ignore it."

Obviously Henry encountered some interesting things.  For the least favorite moments, there wasn't a lot to report. 

Overall decent read and was happy enough with it that I would read more Bukowski in the future.